BBC Young Reporter: How Jet reduces waste in her community
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BBC Young Reporter Jet has a plan to reduce waste in her community.
During the coronavirus lockdown in 2020, her and her friends collected unwanted items as people cleared out their houses.
Now, she noticed fewer people are donating old items, and wants to encourage people to create "free-boxes".
She hopes people will not only cut down on their waste - but also find some cool free stuff along the way!
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Community freebies
DVDs, books, games, and even furniture. You might think these things could all add up to quite a lot of money - but Jet has managed to get these items for free in her neighbourhood!
She got them all second-hand, from people who leave out unwanted items outside their homes.
Jet and her family have followed trails around their community, searching for free items that could be useful to them.
However, over the past couple of years, Jet says she's seen fewer 'free-boxes' in her area.
I think there should be a set date every fortnight when people can leave free items out for others
Jet
What is a freebox?
During the first coronavirus lockdown, Jet said lots of families in her area cleared out old items from their homes.
Because charity shops were not open they put items outside their homes, in a box, that anyone was free to take items from.
Jet said this reduced waste, and also meant people in her community got things for free, that they might have had to pay for before.
Now, Jet's worried that more people could resort to fly-tipping if they don't know where they can put their old items.
Fly-tipping happens when someone leaves out rubbish in a public place.
It is usually more than littering, and can be anything from binbags of rubbish to entire mattresses or old furniture.
You can receive a fine for fly-tipping. It also can damage an environment, or harm local animals and plants.
Jet's plan
To cut down on waste, Jet wants there to be a regular system for making free-boxes, and finding free stuff.
"I think there should be a set date every fortnight when people can leave free items out for others" she says.
"If they aren't gone by the end of that day, the person can be responsible for recycling or disposing of the items".
She hopes that communities will come together to organise a session every other week, to sort out their old belongings and see who wants to keep them.
Jet says free boxes give people a "feel-good-factor" and also help people to declutter their homes.
One man's rubbish is another man's treasure
Jet
What do you think of this idea? Let us know in the comments.
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